A quick way to get to know the river in Clarksdale:

Walk through downtown Clarksdale along the Riverwalk (which is a posted "Bird Sanctuary") located opposite downtown, on Clarksdale's "West bank."

From the South entrance on Riverside (at the foot of Cherry Street), the Riverwalk takes you under the two bridges, 1st Street, then 2nd Street, past a small copse of Cypress, several Syacamores and giant Cottonwoods, and into Soldier's Field, around which the Sunflower flows. Walk the perimeter of the field (where Malcolm Mabry planted Oaks a decade ago). There is a gazebo in the center, a good place for a picnic. Conner Burnham conducts his yoga classes here during the warmer months. You'll see several paths leading from the field towards the river. Follow one and you'll drop down onto the river's bank. Here you'll enter another world: a striking hallway of medium Bald Cypress growing like the columns of a Greek temple. You'll notice the confluence with "Lyons Bayou" on the opposite bank, and your view upstream might look something like this photo, taken from Cypress knee level:

The view this morning

towards the second street bridge

a fine mist settling in layers

the muddy banks of the river

first light just entering the sky

blackbirds beginning to fly

a bend of the river

a bend of the river

near Lindsey Lake Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, February 18, 2007

This river has the blues!

Friends of the Sunflower River is all about appreciating and caring for the lonely little river that winds its way through the center of the Mississippi Delta, from Friars Point to Clarksdale, from Mound Bayou & Merigold to Sunflower; from Indianola to Anguilla, from Holly Bluff to Vicksburg.

This river has the blues! Besides the many blues & gospel musicians who were born & baptized along its banks, its mussel shell beds (which are reported to be the richest such biota in the world) seem to be in constant danger of overzealous engineering. The Sunflower River has been neglected and over-worked; so much that it was proclaimed America’s “Most Endangered River” in 2003.

The good news is that its forests constitute the largest bottomland hardwood forests in the National Forest system (they also produce the highest carbon-sequestration of any forests in North America!), and its banks are home to every creature winged, webbed or otherwise, found native to the Mississippi Delta. It’s a beautiful place to get away, to reflect a moment on the rivers and woods of America, to walk along its banks, to paddle its waters, to enjoy its scenery. Most importantly, its home to all of us who live on or near its banks, and second home to many others who love it from a distance. Shouldn’t we be taking better care of our lonely muddy river?

Physical Description: The Sunflower River is born in the bayous and lakes of Northern Coahoma County and meanders South some 250 miles through the Yazoo/Mississippi Delta paralleling the Mississippi River on the West and the Yazoo on the East, (with which it confluences with 10 miles above Vicksburg). A small but dynamic river, once forested, now mostly bordered by fields, the Sunflower is a rich habitat for all creatures native to the region, including black bear and panther. Its muddy current averages 2100 cfs (cubic feet per second) at Sunflower, 3461 at the mouth of Bogue Phalia, and approximately 4500 where it empties into the Yazoo River at Steele Bayou. Its drainage includes most or all of Coahoma, Bolivar, Sunflower, Washington, Sharkey & Issaquena Counties, some 3,689 square miles, inhabited by 169,150 people.

Cultural/Historical Mélange: In its journey through the Delta, the Sunflower winds through the layers of mud and history that gave the world its first great blues singer (Charlie Patton, Dockery Plantation), the first mechanized cotton picker (Hopson Plantation), its oldest African-American founded community (Mound Bayou), rural Civil Rights era leaders (Fanny Lou Hamer, Sunflower County; Aaron Henry, Clarksdale), the Teddy Bear (Delta National Forest), King of the Chicago Blues (Muddy Waters, born in Rolling Fork, lived 25 years at Stovall) and the renowned ambassador of the blues (B.B. King, Indianola). The Rev. C.L. Franklin (Aretha’s Father) is just one of many who were baptized in her muddy waters. Legendary woodsman, Holt Collier (1846-1936), who cornered the Teddy Bear, reported its waters to run clear & clean, and Roosevelt started each day of the hunt with a cold-water swim. One of our long-term objectives is to make the waters safe once again for fishing and swimming.

Birth of an Organization

Friends of the Sunflower River became an official organization tonight with a meeting in Clarksdale along the banks of the river at Quapaw Canoe Company. We decided we are mostly concerned with education and appreciation, and drew up a long list of objectives, one of which was to create an informational website. And now -- voila! Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures constructed this blog site for us using the blogspot template. Do you like this? Any additions? Comments? If you are a web designer, and you have better ideas, give us a holler! We are worker bees here. Other objectives and "action" items will appear periodically, perhaps as a sidebar on this blog, maybe in some future posts. Become a friend and help us out! Its easy: send your $25 annual membership fee to Friends of the Sunflower River, 291 Sunflower Avenue, Clarksdale, MS, 38614, and get ready to help us take care of the river you love!